The use of electronic reminders for short term household tasks from simply boiling an egg to operating a domestic oven with a built-in timer is commonplace. Such electronic reminders work in short term cycles, typically minutes to hours and act essentially as electronic timers.
Households tasks or events with longer cycle times such as appointments, lawn mowing or building maintenance are typically done on an as-remembered basis, which is acceptable to the home occupier as no fixed time-line exists for these to be completed. However certain household tasks with longer cycle time must be completed at specific times otherwise the window for completing the task is lost until the next cycle. A specific example of such a task is household bin or refuse container collection.
Household bin or refuse container collection typically operates on a weekly cycle requiring the home occupier to position one or more specific colored bins, on a specific day of the week, for collection by the local municipal refuse collection vehicle. Usually the local municipal authority issues a color coded refuse collection calendar detailing which colored household bins are due for collection in a specific week.